The Wind Dukes of Aaqa (that's how it's spelled, right?) - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

The Wind Dukes of Aaqa (that's how it's spelled, right?)

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mithral_icesilver_02
Oct 22, 2004 16:13:38 I am searching for chant, rumors, legends, and the dark (no screed, obviously) on the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. What they looked like, what life was like before the cataclysmic battle of Pesh, what powers they had, the part they played on the planes, what part they played in the aforementioned battle of Pesh, their actual connection to elemental air, etc, etc.

And if anyone's statted one up, that's good, too.
#2
ripvanwormer
Oct 22, 2004 17:38:17
I am searching for chant, rumors, legends, and the dark (no screed, obviously) on the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. What they looked like, what life was like before the cataclysmic battle of Pesh, what powers they had, the part they played on the planes, what part they played in the aforementioned battle of Pesh, their actual connection to elemental air, etc, etc.

And if anyone's statted one up, that's good, too.

Their 3e stats can be found in the Oriental Adventures web enhancement. They're properly known as vaati.

Most currently live in the Vale of Aaqa, which is, I think, in the Griff Mountains in the World of Greyhawk setting. It's also in the Adribandha mountains in Mahasarpa, the setting described in the Oriental Adventures web enhancement.

Their role in ancient times is obscure. They ruled an empire spread over several worlds aeons ago, with footholds throughout the planes. They fought a genocidal war with the demon Queen of Chaos, with the fate of the worlds under their control at stake. They were nearly wiped out, but the Queen was defeated. She still rules the layer of the Abyss known as the Steaming Fen, but her consort Miska the Wolf-Spider is imprisoned in Pandemonium.

They have no particular connection to Elemental Air, but they can fly and they have various air-related powers. They're black-skinned, androgynous, muscular humanoids. They're outsiders with both the Air and Law subtypes.

The battle at Pesh (which was somewhere on Oerth, supposedly) was entirely them and the spyder-fiends of Chaos. Other outsider races are not known to have become involved.

I personally connect them to Arcadia - they make a good ancestor of the buseni, I think.
#3
Shemeska_the_Marauder
Oct 22, 2004 17:41:06 Don't look for that information in any Planescape source because outside of the Rod of Seven Parts box they don't appear in the history of the planes. Not so much as a mention.

Either the Oerth spawned legends of the war between the Wind Dukes of Aaqa and the Queen of Chaos were a fabrication, or more likely they were much smaller in scale and elaborated by subsequent tellings of the legend. Within the history of the lower planes and the Blood War the battle of Pesh and the war between those two sides is literally not so much as worth a footnote.

All I can say is that the Queen of Chaos was an Abyssal lord, likely a minor one, and the Wind Dukes of Aaqa have no connection to elemental air, (though air genasi are called Wind Dukes in a bizarre coincidence). The web enhancement for Oriental Adventures, Masaharpa (sp?) contained stats for the Aaqan wind dukes.

I'd place the Wind Dukes of Aaqa as a now largely vanished subrace of ousider from Mechanus, decimated by their war with this Tanar'ri lord and then being forced from the plane by either the Parai and/or the Modrons.

The Queen of Chaos and Wind Duke thing was, IIRC a largely Gygaxian thing that was never brought along into the Planescape evolution of the planes of DnD, and it doesn't really fit without modifications of itself.
#4
ripvanwormer
Oct 22, 2004 18:31:53
The Queen of Chaos and Wind Duke thing was, IIRC a largely Gygaxian thing that was never brought along into the Planescape evolution of the planes of DnD

This is true, although the Rod of Seven Parts adventure (written by Skip Williams, I think), where the vaati and spyder-fiends were first described and statted, was post-Planescape.

I don't see a big conflict, personally. I agree that the conflict between the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes was never equal to the Blood War in magnitude, but as it wiped out an entire planar race and consumed several Prime worlds, it was bigger than most Blood War battles (which is saying something). I don't think it was ever claimed that the vaati were the ultimate incarnations of order or that their battle was the first or greatest clash of law and anarchy. It was a conflict that resulted in a potent artifact and may still be relevant to some worlds of the Material Plane.
#5
mithral_icesilver_02
Oct 23, 2004 13:27:48 Thanks!
#6
zombiegleemax
Oct 23, 2004 14:52:48
I don't see a big conflict, personally. I agree that the conflict between the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes was never equal to the Blood War in magnitude, but as it wiped out an entire planar race and consumed several Prime worlds, it was bigger than most Blood War battles (which is saying something).

Even the most minor of Blood War skirmishes result in millions of deaths (case in point: the Field of Nettles in Hellbound). The only reason they don't wipe out entire races or consume whole Prime worlds all the time is that the war usually stays on Lower Planar battlegrounds, and few races are stupid to get in the way.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mithral_icesilver_02 Oct 22, 2004 16:13:38	I am searching for chant, rumors, legends, and the dark (no screed, obviously) on the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. What they looked like, what life was like before the cataclysmic battle of Pesh, what powers they had, the part they played on the planes, what part they played in the aforementioned battle of Pesh, their actual connection to elemental air, etc, etc. And if anyone's statted one up, that's good, too.
#2 ripvanwormer Oct 22, 2004 17:38:17	I am searching for chant, rumors, legends, and the dark (no screed, obviously) on the Wind Dukes of Aaqa. What they looked like, what life was like before the cataclysmic battle of Pesh, what powers they had, the part they played on the planes, what part they played in the aforementioned battle of Pesh, their actual connection to elemental air, etc, etc. And if anyone's statted one up, that's good, too. Their 3e stats can be found in the Oriental Adventures web enhancement. They're properly known as vaati. Most currently live in the Vale of Aaqa, which is, I think, in the Griff Mountains in the World of Greyhawk setting. It's also in the Adribandha mountains in Mahasarpa, the setting described in the Oriental Adventures web enhancement. Their role in ancient times is obscure. They ruled an empire spread over several worlds aeons ago, with footholds throughout the planes. They fought a genocidal war with the demon Queen of Chaos, with the fate of the worlds under their control at stake. They were nearly wiped out, but the Queen was defeated. She still rules the layer of the Abyss known as the Steaming Fen, but her consort Miska the Wolf-Spider is imprisoned in Pandemonium. They have no particular connection to Elemental Air, but they can fly and they have various air-related powers. They're black-skinned, androgynous, muscular humanoids. They're outsiders with both the Air and Law subtypes. The battle at Pesh (which was somewhere on Oerth, supposedly) was entirely them and the spyder-fiends of Chaos. Other outsider races are not known to have become involved. I personally connect them to Arcadia - they make a good ancestor of the buseni, I think.
#3 Shemeska_the_Marauder Oct 22, 2004 17:41:06	Don't look for that information in any Planescape source because outside of the Rod of Seven Parts box they don't appear in the history of the planes. Not so much as a mention. Either the Oerth spawned legends of the war between the Wind Dukes of Aaqa and the Queen of Chaos were a fabrication, or more likely they were much smaller in scale and elaborated by subsequent tellings of the legend. Within the history of the lower planes and the Blood War the battle of Pesh and the war between those two sides is literally not so much as worth a footnote. All I can say is that the Queen of Chaos was an Abyssal lord, likely a minor one, and the Wind Dukes of Aaqa have no connection to elemental air, (though air genasi are called Wind Dukes in a bizarre coincidence). The web enhancement for Oriental Adventures, Masaharpa (sp?) contained stats for the Aaqan wind dukes. I'd place the Wind Dukes of Aaqa as a now largely vanished subrace of ousider from Mechanus, decimated by their war with this Tanar'ri lord and then being forced from the plane by either the Parai and/or the Modrons. The Queen of Chaos and Wind Duke thing was, IIRC a largely Gygaxian thing that was never brought along into the Planescape evolution of the planes of DnD, and it doesn't really fit without modifications of itself.
#4 ripvanwormer Oct 22, 2004 18:31:53	The Queen of Chaos and Wind Duke thing was, IIRC a largely Gygaxian thing that was never brought along into the Planescape evolution of the planes of DnD This is true, although the Rod of Seven Parts adventure (written by Skip Williams, I think), where the vaati and spyder-fiends were first described and statted, was post-Planescape. I don't see a big conflict, personally. I agree that the conflict between the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes was never equal to the Blood War in magnitude, but as it wiped out an entire planar race and consumed several Prime worlds, it was bigger than most Blood War battles (which is saying something). I don't think it was ever claimed that the vaati were the ultimate incarnations of order or that their battle was the first or greatest clash of law and anarchy. It was a conflict that resulted in a potent artifact and may still be relevant to some worlds of the Material Plane.
#5 mithral_icesilver_02 Oct 23, 2004 13:27:48	Thanks!
#6 zombiegleemax Oct 23, 2004 14:52:48	I don't see a big conflict, personally. I agree that the conflict between the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes was never equal to the Blood War in magnitude, but as it wiped out an entire planar race and consumed several Prime worlds, it was bigger than most Blood War battles (which is saying something). Even the most minor of Blood War skirmishes result in millions of deaths (case in point: the Field of Nettles in Hellbound). The only reason they don't wipe out entire races or consume whole Prime worlds all the time is that the war usually stays on Lower Planar battlegrounds, and few races are stupid to get in the way.